Men's Water Polo

Third Period Surge By Pacific Falls Just Short Against Cal

Sep 08, 2018

STOCKTON, Calif. - A late second half rally by the men's water polo team was not enough to halt the No. 3 Cal Bears Saturday night as Pacific fell by a final score of 11-8.

At a packed out Chris Kjeldsen Pool, the Tigers scored seven of their eight goals in the final two periods to put themselves within reach but a couple unlucky strikes on goal and a pestering Cal defense proved to be the difference as the Bears (6-0) clinched their sixth straight victory. Pacific moves to 4-1 on the year.

In Case You Missed It:

The Tigers shifted some much needed momentum in their favor at the 5:00 minute mark in the third period scoring three unanswered goals to put the game within reach, 7-5.

Pacific's trio of Luis Araya, Ege Colak, and Luke Pavillard accounted for 27 of the Tiger's 36 shots for the match as well as 5 of it's 8 goals.

Junior Luis Araya served as a distributer for the Orange and Black dishing out four assists to four different Tiger players in the match.

Goal keeper Alen Osmanovic tallied in a game-high 14 saves on the night, increasing his total to 36 for the year.

Pacific had multiple opportunities on goal but unfortunately were unable to capitalize having four shots sail off the post and 11 shots saved by Cal keeper Bernardo Carelli.

The Tigers had their closest chance off a helicopter goal at the 4:21 mark by Andrea De Nardi which tied the match at eight-all. Unfortunately the Golden Bears would go on to score three straight points after that point to seal the victory.

First Period:

Pacific fell behind early in the match allowing three straight unanswered goals by the Golden Bears to have them trail Cal 3-0.

The Tigers struggled to find their rhythym getting eight quality shots on goal but failing to put one in the back of the net.

Araya led the way in the first period with three shots on goal.

Second Period:

Cal widened the gap to open up the period scoring a goal at the 3:06 mark to push the lead to 4-0

Following another Bear score, Luke Pavillard helped get Pacific on the board with just seconds to spare, sending a strike deep from the halfway mark for a Tiger goal (:01"). This helped ramp up the crowd at Chris Kjeldsen Pool giving the Tigers a lift, 5-1, heading into the break.

Third Period:

Despite three goals by Cal the Tigers played lights out in the third period increasing the intensity of the match by going on a 3-0 run thanks to goals by Bogdan Djerkovic (5:52"), Wyatt Barker (4:17"), and Pavillard (3:32").

Fourth Period:

A questionable exclusion on Pavillard at the 6:47 mark of the period made it his third and final exclusion of the match, ending his night.

Pacific would rally forward, however, scoring back to back goals by Araya (5:53") and De Nardi.

Alen Osmanovic made five saves in the period to keep the game at bay. One of those saves came at a pivotal moment in the match leading to a offensive break for the Tigers and the 8-8 equalizer by De Nardi.

Cal would go on to score two goals in the 3rd minute and second minute to put the game out of reach.

The Tigers kept knocking on the door in the final five minutes of the period as their four final shots on goal either hit the post or were saved by the defense. Unfortunately their efforts fell just short.

Notables:

A bit of chippy match between the two teams, 19 exclusions were called in Saturday night's match including three players being excluded out of the game.

Luke Pavillard registered his fifth consecutive hat trick of the season off a goal in the third period.

Despite not getting on the board sophomore Eli Lule made contributions on the defensive end tallying a game-high three steals for the match.

Up Next For the Tigers:

The Tigers pick play back up on the road as they head to UC Davis' Aggie Classic.

There the Orange and Black face off against No. 16 Cal Baptist, No. 10 UC Santa Barbara, and a rematch against No. 3 Cal.

Pacific's first match will be against the Lancers of Cal Baptist.

CBU is 4-4 on the year coming off a 17-16 overtime victory against St. Francis Brooklyn.

For the latest on Men's Water Polo athletics make sure to visit the Tigers via social media on Twitter and Instagram.